Not at all. He thought about it after his contract was up in 1999 or 2000, that's it. There was never a threat or a hint that he would go back after that.

His team in Sweden (Västerås) went bankrupt in 2000 and was booted out of SEL and has been unable to work its way back. I think that may have been a factor as to why he never went back, in addition to him being an ultra competitive individual, having his family in the States and the gigantic wage disparity between NHL stars and SEL players.

The big difference between a Russian and a Swede going home is the money, a guy like Datsyuk will probably make more money at home than he does in the NHL, Swedish guys going home to SEL would be very, very lucky if they get to make half of the NHL minimum.

Reliable source = agent leaking the info (maybe through another person). The more leverage the better for Pavel.

I don't think you are familiar with how the Detroit front office work. This is an organization which gives you multi year deals with NTCs to mikael sameuelsson. Pays Kyle ****ing Quincey 4m a year. Is about to give Jimmy Howard a reported 6-7 year deal worth 5m a year. Datsyuk needs to do no more than pick up a phone and say 'Kenny dis Pavel you have big check ready now?'

It might have more to do with his ex-wife and daughter living in Russia, rather than Datsyuk being worried about the "nightly abuse he's going to take in the Eastern Conference".

This. He's 35 now. He'll be 37 then. That's not an outrageous age to leave the NHL. And who can blame him for wanting to be near his kid, she'll be 11 this fall.
Get back to her before she gets too far into the insolent teens.

Gives new insight to all the Whargarbl about "Missing all star game" too. Yeah, play in a meaningless pickup game, or take the only chance in 7 months to see your kid(Christmas break is 3 days at best....good luck flying to Russia and back on that)

If the KHL keeps out paying the NHL this might become a common occurrence. Although the NHL is still the best league in the world, playing at home has to be very attractive to players from overseas especially if they will make more money. Sucks for the Wings, but they do have some rebuilding to do to get back to the top again (not dogging the Wings, just stating the obvious considering the players that have retired).

If the KHL keeps out paying the NHL this might become a common occurrence. Although the NHL is still the best league in the world, playing at home has to be very attractive to players from overseas especially if they will make more money. Sucks for the Wings, but they do have some rebuilding to do to get back to the top again (not dogging the Wings, just stating the obvious considering the players that have retired).

Smith's not as good as Rafalski, but could be an offensive giant in his own right when he gets some experience under his belt.

Draper? Think it's been clear for a few years now that Helm was the second coming of Draper.

Stuart is easily replaceable, whether it be by somebody in the system or by a FA. Kindl has stepped up his game in a big way.

Stuart wasn't easily replaceable, but he can be replaced. The Wings didn't replace him and it showed big time early in the season when we couldn't clear a crease to save our lives. Kindl doesn't really remind me of Stuart because he doesn't play physical enough, I would compare Lashoff as being the one that stepped up and fulfilled Stuart's role this season. He's come up and surprised a lot of people with his play, and he sure isn't scared of throwing bodies around within his zone.

This has been an ongoing topic everywhere regarding him and unfortunately no matter what Detroit does he is probably going home after next season. Not that Detroit did anything wrong but he just wants to go home and be near his daughter so he can watch her grow up. You can say it's because he gets crappy line maters or doesn't have any other Russian players with him but it's not...

I'm really surprised no one else saw/remembered this and linked it. Here is an article from right after Russia won the World Championship last year.

You can't fault him ONE BIT if he wants to go back home for his daughter. His daughter is the #1 thing in his life with probably Detroit being #2. You can speculate all you want and say "He's going to get this or He's staying for this". Coming from someone that loves him and the team...he isn't staying here and it's time to embrace it. You can be sad about him leaving but for the reason he wants to leave...at some point you have to smile.

This makes me feel terrible. It was hard to see Jagr leave when he did. It's hard to see players of a high caliber leave for another league. But at the end of the day, I respect there reasoning no matter what. We are lucky to have seen them for any amount of time.

If he wants to finish in the KHL because it's his home and his family is there, than i 100% support him and thank him for all the great highlights he's given us over the years.

True class act his whole career. Hoping this isn't true, but completely behind him either way.

This has been an ongoing topic everywhere regarding him and unfortunately no matter what Detroit does he is probably going home after next season. Not that Detroit did anything wrong but he just wants to go home and be near his daughter so he can watch her grow up. You can say it's because he gets crappy line maters or doesn't have any other Russian players with him but it's not...

I'm really surprised no one else saw/remembered this and linked it. Here is an article from right after Russia won the World Championship last year.

You can't fault him ONE BIT if he wants to go back home for his daughter. His daughter is the #1 thing in his life with probably Detroit being #2. You can speculate all you want and say "He's going to get this or He's staying for this". Coming from someone that loves him and the team...he isn't staying here and it's time to embrace it. You can be sad about him leaving but for the reason he wants to leave...at some point you have to smile.

It's cute how she has so many of his facial features, just softer and with less pointy head.

God damn it I wish he would stay in the NHL.
But if its for his daughter than I think everyone should be able to understand his situation. I like him for honoring the remaining period of his contract. Hopefully the Wings can find another guy that was this entertaining to watch. Here's to the Wings prospects and to Datsyuk.